Fraser man part of deadly Detroit River rescue
Off-duty Detroit firefighter drowns trying to save the lives of 3 girls
A Macomb County civilian was part of a heroic effort to save the lives of three girls who almost drowned in the Detroit River but also resulted in the death of another rescuer.
Matthew Pfromm of Fraser was on Belle Isle on Friday night when he saw three swimmers in distress in the river near the Detroit Yacht Club. He entered the water along with an off-duty Detroit firefighter, Sivad Johnson.
Pfromm said his sole focus was getting to the three girls, but was having difficulty with the fast current of the Detroit River.
“I seen them struggling and I seen three heads out there, so I decided to take it into my hands and go out there and give them girls assistance, because I didn’t want to see them die,” Pfromm told WDIV-TV (Channel 4)
Johnson was off-duty and walking with his 10-year-old daughter when they heard three young girls screaming for help from the water, authorities said.
“Mr. Johnson also assisted me, he was right behind me and there was a boat out there. We went to the girls, we did our best to get to them,” Pfromm told the TV station.
He got to one of them first, the other two were rescued by a man in the boat nearby.
“The boat which was a blessing, for him to be there because if it wasn’t for him, I probably wouldn’t have made it out of there either. He threw life preservers out to the young girls,” Pfromm said.
Pfromm and the girls were able to make it back to shore. That’s when he realized Johnson had vanished.
“I heard a little girl, screaming saying, ‘Where’s my daddy?’ And I was like who is your dad? She said he was the guy who went
in with you. It came to me, like yeah he was there with me and where is he now? He was right behind me at one point, and then 5-10 minutes later, nobody knew where he went,” he said.
After authorities were called on 911, a search was initiated but eventually called off due to darkness.
“It is believed the father may have been dragged underwater by the rip-current and no one noticed,” Michigan State Police said of Johnson in a statement.
Dave Fornell, deputy fire commissioner for the Detroit Fire Department, said crews on Saturday recovered Johnson’s body from the river following a six-hour search.
Johnson, 48, was a 26-year veteran of the Detroit Fire Department, he said.
Despite being off-duty at the time, Johnson’s heroic sacrifice will be labeled as a line-of-duty death, Fornell said.
Pfromm said the tragedy will stay with him for a long time.
“It’s still with me,” he told WDIV. “Knowing that Mr. Johnson never made it out of here, is very, is very, it hurts.